US blogger in quest to find Norfolk Mother's Day card writer

An Agatha Christie novel has yielded its own mystery with the discovery of a hand-drawn Mother's Day card inside - 4,000 miles away.

The former Norfolk library book was bought online by an American blogger who researches unsolved murders.

Alice de Sturler, from Virginia, said she now wants to reunite the card - signed "To mum, love from Kit" - with its owner.

"I would really love for mum to have it back," she said.

"It's lovely - it was probably used as a bookmark and by accident it was stuck in the book," she added.

"If it was from my child I would want it back.

"I buy a lot of books online and former library books and when I opened this one, I saw it was from Norfolk."

Ms de Sturler said she thought the paperback had once belonged to the Norfolk Library Service before it was taken off the shelves and sold on.

According to the library stamp, it was last borrowed on 24 January 2020.

The card, made from two notepad pages, says "Happy Mother's Day" on the front and features a hand-drawn picture of a red well surrounded by five red flowers.

Ms de Sturler said she decided to contact the BBC on the advice of a UK friend after a social media appeal failed to produce any leads.

"I am a sentimental journey kind of person who says, 'I need to find mom'," she said.

A spokesman for Norfolk County Council, which runs the library service, said: "We sell books that are no longer required and in this instance it has provided an extra layer of mystery.

"We would encourage people to ensure no personal items are left in books returned to a library, but we hope that the owner of the card is found."

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